FlashReport Weblog on California Politics

Posted by Katy Grimes at 7:07 am on Sep 28, 2012 Comments Off on Calif. business leakage is a bummer

The word ‘leakage’ is the new politically correct term used by
legislators, the Governor, bureaucrats and the California Air
Resources Board to describe what happens when California businesses
leave the state because of tax increases and stupendous
regulations… as if any of them know what it means for a business to
make the difficult decision to close a location, terminate hundreds
of employees, and move a business.

Posted by Jon Fleischman at 6:00 am on Sep 28, 2012 Comments Off on Deceptive Results From PPIC on Death Penalty

I’m always skeptical of public opinion polling data.
Time after time I say that to really understand the full story
behind surveys, you have to investigate the questions being asked
of respondents.

I was immediately surprised by the results from the recent PPIC
statewide survey as it related to voter sentiment on the Death
Penalty. California has and will continue to be supportive of
capital punishment for the worst of the worst murders. I’ve
known from experience that a death sentence isn’t given often, but
when it is, the criminal deserves it.

PPIC didn’t test the actual ballot label of Prop 34 and
suggested that it merely tested voter sentiment about the death
penalty as opposed to life without parole. The results, they
subtly (well not so subtly) would project where voters are on
Proposition 34, a measure sponsored by the ACLU and defense
attorneys to get rid of the death penalty. The irony behind
Prop 34 is that the ACLU is claiming that the death penalty is
broken because nobody gets executed and taxpayers are paying… Read More

Foreign Policy: My parents, who have now passed
away, were both born around the start of World War I. They were of
the “greatest generation” that came to adulthood during the
depression and World War II. They grew up in a world where it was
us and other democracies against the fascists and imperialists
across the oceans. We had the white hats. They wore the black hats.
The white hats won. It was all pretty clear.

I was born in 1955, square in the middle of the “baby boom”
generation. We came of age during the Cold War and the Vietnam War.
It was still pretty clear. There were 3 worlds: us with the white
hats, the communists with the black hats, and the “third world”
that we and the communists fought over. The Vietnam War was
America’s first experience with a conflict that arguably did not
result in the defeat of the opposition, which spoiled our air of
invincibility. But, our objective for the Cold War, as Ronald
Reagan famously described, was, “We win. They lose”. And, that is
what happened. Also pretty clear.

After the Cold War came the “peace dividend” and a hope, if not
an… Read More

As Sacramento legislators continue to pass laws that make
California increasingly less competitive, while ignoring needed
reforms in the way state government taxes, spends, and regulates,
San Diego stands as a bright spot for advocates of reform, fiscal
sanity, and transparency. That bright spot is because of the
efforts of City Councilman Carl DeMaio, candidate for mayor of
California’s second largest city.

Charter reform, coupled with redistricting, have taken the San
Diego City Council from eight seats to nine, having already changed
the mayor into a “strong mayor” executive role, and separating the
office from the council. Going into this election,
left-leaning councilmembers outnumbered pro-business councilmembers
5-3. However, the outright victories of businessmen Mark
Kersey and Scott Sherman in the June primary have created a 4-4
split with the deciding ninth seat a battle between businessman Ray
Ellis and liberal incumbent Sherri Lightner. Ellis topped
Lightner in the 4-way June primary and reformers are excited about
Ellis’ chances in November.

But the best part about what is happening in San Diego is not
the prospect of a pro-reform,… Read More

Posted by Jon Fleischman at 1:18 am on Sep 25, 2012 Comments Off on My “Post Partisan” Day At The USC Schwarzenegger Symposium

Yesterday I took a bit
of a trip through the looking glass, as it were. Yesterday,
as far as I could tell, I was one only two ideological
conservatives who attended the inaugural symposium of the new
Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Local Policy at the
University of Southern California. I would say that there
were about 750 people there, mostly invited guests as well as a
large contingent of university students. Actually several
hundred more students wanted to attend but were turned away due to
lack of space. In his opening remarks, Arnold Schwarzenegger
joked that they picked those students with the least amount of body
fat to… Read More

Posted by Katy Grimes at 7:41 am on Sep 24, 2012 Comments Off on Beware Prop. 31: a wolf in sheep’s clothing

With all of the focus on the November ballot initiatives to
raise taxes,
Proposition 31 seems to have quietly avoided heavy scrutiny in
the main stream media thus far. But this initiative is a wolf in
sheep’s clothing, pretending to be much-needed reform.

There is growing confusion about ballot title and summaries on
California’s ballot initiatives. It’s almost impossible to know how
to vote on something. A “no” vote may mean “yes,” and visa versa,
given the way the California Attorney General’s office plays fast
and loose with writing the titles and summaries of ballot
measures.

This is the case with
Proposition 31 –what’s up is down, and what appears to be
reform, is not. Equally disturbing is how so many of the state’s
newspapers are jumping on board this phony “reform” measure. Even
the California Republican Party officially endorsed Prop. 31.

Pundits routinely write
off California as a helplessly blue state, but the fact remains
that there are still many vitally important races in the
state. The decennial redistricting that took place last year
created several new and very competitive districts throughout the
state, and the GOP has a great shot at picking up new legislative
seats that were previously gerrymandered exclusively to Democrats,
and of course the Mayor’s race in San Diego remains a focus of many
throughout the state. The need to rebuild an ailing party in
California starts with one thing: Money.

Democrats have had an advantage in California for decades due to
the massive amounts of money that government… Read More

Posted by Jon Fleischman at 10:43 am on Sep 18, 2012 Comments Off on Effort To Pass Prop. 32 Launches $2.2 Million Statewide Television Ad

California Future Fund for Free Markets, a committee formed to
communicate and advocate conservative and free market issues, today
announced the release of a new TV ad that will all across the state
of California in support of Proposition 32, the November ballot
measure to restrict corporate and union political contributions to
politicians.

“This ad exposes the ugly truth about what’s really behind
California’s most powerful politicians – money…and a lot of it.
Rather than serving the taxpayers who put them in office,
California’s elected officials are serving the needs of the big
corporations and government unions that are controlling them like
puppets with millions and millions of dollars in contributions.
This situation is not only untenable it’s killing California.”

“With 11 percent unemployment, high taxes, lavish pensions and
billions in government waste, and, despite spending $50 billion per
year on education, California is home to some of the worst
performing schools in the country. These facts paint a sorry
picture of a… Read More